First post and I come to ask your opinion on how to prepare BBQ chicken for a party of 40. I'm doing the cooking for my daughters 2nd B-Day and I need some help preparing for the cook. I DO NOT want to spend all day cooking, I'd rather enjoying as much time with my daughter as possible, so I'm trying to be well prepared. I'd like to have the chicken cooked and ready to go straight to the grill to get BBQ'd with sauce.

I make excellent Beer canned chicken and I've had good results for small parties (5-10). I normally just Rub the bird down with olive oil and a good dry rub, then stuff the can and roast in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes then down to 350 for about 90 - 105 minutes or until the bird is up to temp. Once the chicken is done, I rest for 10 minutes, then cut up into serving pieces, about 6.

Also, price is a huge concern. It's going to be expensive to feed all these people and I'm not sure how to buy the chicken. Should I buy them whole at $.89-$.99 per lb. or but whole cut up chicken? Leg quarters?

Do you think that beer canning the chickens would be the best method? I don't know of any other methods in the oven that will produce juicy on the inside but crispy skin on the outside.

Any tips would be excellent. I've never cooked for this many people before and I'm a little worried.

I'm also doing pulled pork. This will be smoked prior to the party and vac sealed and frozen then warmed, sauced and served when the chicken is done.

You might find it better to use a BBQ catering company. Many of the teams that belong to your state BBQ Association do this for a living. Would be worth checking out. We did it for a birthday party - 100 people. Turned out great and had plenty of time to enjoy the party.

I'll second the Cornell recipe for chicken, google that; it's great. Cut down on the salt just a big.

Leg quarters offer the best value, and are easier to cook evenly that breast quarters (the leg quarters lay flat on the grill, and their shape makes it easy to "nest" them in a cross ways pattern to maximize grill usage).

Man, I can't imagine cutting up whole chickens for a crowd that big; what a hassle. I don't think the savings, if any, is worth it.

I helped out on a family reunion for 30-ish with grilled chicken, and par-baking them in the oven first greatly simplified the process and economized the time. We sauced and finished them on the grill.

40 guests , 60, 1/4 chickens. grill them the day before, wrap in tinfoil. day of event, unwrap chickens, bring to room temp, bring sauce to a boil, use the large tinfoil pans from Costco, layer the chicken 2 high, pour on hot bbq sauce, let the sauce bring the chicken up to warm, 1/2 hr.

Ok. I did a search on Beer canned chicken, and I get it now. The chicken goes OVER the can. Man, I gotta try this!

Google "Beer Can Chicken racks" and you wil get all kinds of sources where you can buy a rack to hold the can and support the bird so it doesn't tip over. Good investment! Also, all kinds of seasoning ideas and recipes on here!

The more I think about it, you might want to consider another product, like Hamburgers. If you've not done a large quanity of chicken before, it can be tricky. You need to make sure ALL the chicken is cooked thoroughly. With that many guests, you need to prevent undercooked chicken from being served. There's nothing worse than cutting into a piece of bloody, undercooked chicken! And you don't want anyone to becone ill!

The suggestions for pre-cooking are very good. To make things easier just start cooking the chickens about a hour prior to being placed on the grill. It is more than enough time to cook them thoroughly. Put the uncovered chicken in a 400 oven for a few minutes to crisp the skin. Then turn it down to about 250 and cook till done. Hold till serving. It's just that you are going to have a hard time finding a place for the chicken if you cooked it the day before let alone holding the raw product.

How much chicken is needed? I like chicken quarters, it gives a choice of white or dark meat. You should not be trying to cook chicken and cutting the stuff too. If you know how to cut up raw chicken, you could go for it. Even though I can cut those cluckers pretty fast, I would probably buy 1/4s for the simplicity and sanitation.

You do not want to have a lot of leftover chicken. If you get 13 cut-up chickens, it should be just about right. Usually people fill up on all the side dishes, couple that with the pulled pork and 1/4 of a chicken will be more than enough per person.

Back in the days when we did Cornell Chicken in quantity (like doing 1000 halves, etc) we would put the cooked halves in 40 quart milk cans. The cans had enough metal that the cooked birds would remain hot (hot, not just warm) for 2 or 3 hours. The chicken that had been held in the covered cans continued to steam for quite a while and was always especially tasty and tender.

The only problem I see with doing this in 2008 would be where to obtain 40 quart milk cans in good enough condition to use.

Use google to search for Cornell Barbque Chicken. Done properly, there is no better way to have chicken.

Wally

You raised my curiosity so I Googled. Read the whole story about it's origin so decided to give it a try. Bought 4 bone-in breasts since that's all my bride will eat. Only had time to marinate them for about 4-5 hours. Grilled them a little low & slow and they were Delicious! I went a little heavy on Kosher Salt. will cut back next time. Can't imagine how good they will be with a full 24 hour marinade. I like to do Whole Chickens on a spit. Has anyone tried this method using the Cornell Marinade?